Street May Bear Name Of Civil-rights Pioneer

April 1, 2002|By Jon Steinman, Sentinel Staff Writer

He stood his ground against the Ku Klux Klan at its rallies, including one where he stood alone. He is an elder pastor, a figure of renown and respect in the Orlando and Orange County community. Now, at 87, the Rev. W.D. Judge may see a street renamed for him.

If County Commissioner Homer Hartage has his way, Country Club Drive will soon become W.D. Judge Drive. The street cuts across Orlando and unincorporated Orange, and it runs through very different neighborhoods. The longer segment, stretching for more than a mile past working-class and low-income homes in unincorporated Orange, would be renamed if residents approve the measure, possibly as early as next month.

"This has been our address for a long time, but I think it's a good idea to change the name," said Eddie Salinas, 27, who has lived with his family on Country Club Drive near Mercy Drive for 26 years. "He obviously did something good for the community."

Judge, a soft-spoken man with a long memory, said he was honored by the idea. "I am very proud," he said. "And I feel honored and thankful to Commissioner Hartage for him having taken the initiative to do such a move."

Hartage is not pushing to rename the upscale portion of Country Club Drive, a short segment running from the Country Club of Orlando to Lake Adair. That would require not just the support of City Hall, but the residents, too.

"We're very much against it," said Sandra Hall, whose home is about a block west of the Country Club of Orlando's gates. "This is where the country club is. It wouldn't be appropriate."

To the east of the manicured links of the club, the road is often pitted and in places not always paved. There, residents seem to back Hartage's idea.

All residents affected eventually will vote on the matter; a simple majority is required for the name change. Hartage will lead a community meeting today at the Hal P. Marston Center on Country Club Drive to discuss his proposal.

"This is well-deserved tribute for someone who has given so much of his personal life to the well-being of all our residents," Hartage said.

For 30 years, Judge served as pastor of the Antioch Primitive Baptist Church. Thanks in part to his calls for more diverse leadership, Mayor Glenda Hood appointed a black police chief in 1998.

In 1978, he became the area's first chapter president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a seminal civil-rights organization founded by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1980, when racial anger in Orlando erupted in a flurry of stone-throwing and fires, Judge emerged as one of the leaders of the city's black community.

"I was doing what I had to do," he said.

About 35 years ago, after years as a deputy sheriff in Hillsborough County, Judge moved to Orlando and took his place at Antioch Primitive Baptist. He didn't just stand behind the pulpit. A few years after arriving, he led the effort to build Antioch Manor, a 101-unit apartment block on Country Club Drive for low-income elderly residents.

In 1995, Judge attended a Klan rally in Maitland where 23 white supremacists had gathered to protest. He stood his ground to speak up for tolerance and respect across racial, ethnic and religious lines. Around the same time, he was the lone dissenter at a Klan rally in Ocoee, the scene of devastating racial strife decades before.

"He's a hero to us," said Ora LeClay, who has lived on Country Club Drive in unincorporated Orange for more than a decade. "He's done so much for different people."